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Education: Can’t Afford It, Can’t Have It

Jill

NYU, as an institution, is desirable. But the more we want it, the more money it will cost us. This is the cost of an NYU education. It is expensive. And, like a Porsche, if you can’t afford it, you can’t have it.

Entitled NYU douchebaggery at its finest.

8 thoughts on Education: Can’t Afford It, Can’t Have It

  2. Meritocracy when it comes to race (with “merit” taking into account the fact that you went to a really expensive private high school and your C average is therefore more meritous than an inner-city kid’s A. Also, being really good at sports counts as merit. So does the fact that Dad graduated from the same institution); Oligarchy when it comes to financial aid. It’s the most even-handed way!

  3. Also, being really good at sports counts as merit.

    Being really good at sports, I believe, does fit the traditional definition of “merit.”

    But that minor quibble aside, I agree 100 percent that this person has his head firmly positioned up his ass. The very second sentence of his op/ed shows by how much he misses the point:

    Well, here’s your first lesson: NYU can charge whatever they want for tuition

    Of course they CAN charge whatever they want. They can charge $1,000,000 per semester, and take on only the 200 wealthiest students who apply, if they like. The entire debate about tuition at NYU is whether they should be charging so much. Private industries which sell luxuries like Porsches, for example, have really only one major duty: to make money for their shareholders–ideally, they do this without getting anyone killed or maimed, or giving anybody cancer. NYU, on the other hand, is not a for-profit endevour, and has no shareholders to pay. One could convincingly argue that creating a graduating classes who find themselves unable to pay back their crippling student loans on the strength of their comp lit degrees might not be the best way to accomplish the goals of a university. Nor would only educating the children of the wealthy.

    It pains me to see such drivel on our old Opinion page, Jill.

  4. Although I’m just as irked about our increasing tuition prices as the next guy, I am in complete agreement with the author of this piece. If all of NYU’s students are as outstanding as our admissions data suggests, it appears as if most of us would have no problem getting generous aid packages at state universities. If we had attended state colleges, for the most part, we could get a very solid education. However, there are certain whistles and bells that NYU offers that appealed to us when we chose the school. I could probably take a musical theatre class at University of Illinois, but chances are my teacher won’t have just won a Tony award. I could be an economics major at UW Madison, but that would make it pretty damn well impossible to commute to a daily internship on Wall Street. We are paying for luxury, and that seems to be something a lot of people are forgetting. When students can’t afford even the most basic education I then certainly see a cause to complain, but when we are attending our “Dream School” we really ought to think twice before opening our mouths. If I heard someone complain that gas money for their Lexus was too expensive as I drove my 91 Lumina, I would surely resent them. Both of our cars were transporting us from place A to place B, but one of us opted to get there in style and therefore has to deal with any monetary burdens that accompany their choice. Last year I was contemplating transferring to a less expensive school, but instead I picked up an additional job because I knew I had a good thing going here. I’m sure the folks determining tuition prices are well aware that if they keep raising tuition that they’ll end up with a school of rich dumb kids, and they’re just seeing how far they can take tuition prices without compromising NYU’s integrity.

  5. We are paying for luxury, and that seems to be something a lot of people are forgetting.

    I think that very few NYU students forget that they’re paying for luxury when they hand over their housing checks. And yes, probably part of NYU student’s tuition goes to pay for the location of the school and the prestige of the faculty. But leaving aside the costs of housing, NYU’s tuition does not compare favorably to other schools with arguably more prestigious faculties–Harvard charges just over $26k, whereas NYU charges just over $30k, and Harvard offers far more generous financial aid packages.

    So, I’m not certain the you-get-what-you-pay for arguement holds entirely true. If admissions weren’t an issue, I think there are few people who would choose to go to NYU over Harvard, and get $4k/year back in the package.

  6. The prestige matters. I discovered that when I went from a decent public university to a top-tier (public) law school.

    If access to that prestige is limited to those who can pay cash, that will simply reinforce the concentration of wealth and influence in the hands of those who can already pay for it, which is a recipe for stagnation.

    Besides, Porsche Motors offers a number of financing options for its vehicles; you don’t have to fork over the entire purchase price.

  7. “Why so high? Because you’re paying an education“

    I may be a retard (since I am going to a cheap state university), but doesn’t the title of the article in the NYU student paper linked here have a gigantic typo? Can someone explain this to me? I realize that it’s only first semester for a lot of kids, but shouldn’t they know better than that before they get into NYU? I am feeling very confused by this and I can’t even get the writer’s point because I am so distracted by the title!

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